Background

A.Project Title

Support to Umbrella Programme for Advisory Services to MOFA

B.Project Description 

Saudi Arabia, under the prudent leadership of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Ibn Abdulaziz, has launched the Saudi Vision 2030, which is seeking to achieve a diversified, prosperous economy. In achieving this vision, it is expected that all ministries and Government bodies would strive for organizational excellence, improving their services and qualified personnel, and building high-performing manpower. Looking at the vision, it is evident that it urges Saudi Arabia to open up to the external world, and the need to improve the consular services, as well as strengthening the positive image of the Kingdom, enhancing the regional relations. This accentuates the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the realization of the Vision 2030.

Further, this advances the importance of cooperation with the United Nations System, with particular emphasis on UNDP. On the other hand, this requires promoting economic and commercial activities along with the interaction of the Kingdom with other countries, and the urgency to enhance the public services for citizens, the efficiency of the public expenditures and upgrading resource allocation.

This project intends to develop the capacity of MOFA to adapt to the changing work environment through 1) utilizing and developing the capacities and expertise of personnel; 2) applying modern technologies to meet requirements of the diplomatic and consular work; 3) integration of performance according to standardized criteria, operations and systems. In this respect, the Five-Year Strategic Plan of MOFA includes nine strategic objectives as follows: 1) an active foreign policy; 2) support to strong economic policy; 3) effective public diplomacy; 4) distinguished consular services; 5) professional protocol services; 6) organizational excellence; 7) advanced systems and ICT platforms; 8) effective knowledge management for decision support; 9) continuous training and leading diplomatic studies.

In line with the Country Programme Document (CPD) for Saudi Arabia, the support of MOFA’s projects will be crucial through maintaining cooperation with UNDP Country Office in Riyadh during the period 2017-2021.

Through this umbrella cooperation between Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the strategic objectives of MOFA will be initially framed in three broad pillars with the flexibility of modification or addition in line with the various needs of the Ministry. This cooperation comes in an umbrella with details in terms of activities and projects to be identified on an annual basis in support of MOFA’s deputyships. These will be set annually according to MOFA’s priorities and will be reviewed by UNDP’s project management in coordination with the deputyships for submission to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The key pillars under the umbrella cooperation are:

•             Strengthening public diplomacy

•             Supporting Prince Saudi Al-Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies

•             Providing advisory services to the organizational units at MOFA: political, economic, specialized, consular, general affairs, technical affairs, planning and development, legal unit and human resources unit.

•             Promoting the international representation of Saudi Arabia.

•             Supporting the recruitment of Saudi nationals in the UN System

Duties and Responsibilities

C.Scope of Work

Objective:

The International Law Expert should focus on achieving the following:

1. A capacity development program at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to include embassies and missions outside the Kingdom, preceded by a training needs assessment summarized in a comprehensive report that includes the following:

1. Institutional requirements
2. Individual training needs
3. Training pillars
4. Identifying a list of International Law stakeholders
5. Resources needed

The outputs of the capacity development program should be as follows:

1. Provide workshops and Training on International Law as required by the Institute.
2. Training Manual
3. Training of Trainers (TOT) to sustain training by both the Institute.
   1. Conduct studies and provide consultations as applicable.

Duties and responsibilities:

• To enable the Ministry’s and Institute’s personnel understand the concept of International Law and to develop their practical capabilities;
• To determine pre-training participants' needs; based upon the assessment, the appropriate training methodology that best meets the needs of the participants should be identified;
• To provide workshops related to International Law field;
• Upon completion of assigned workshops, to evaluate the effectiveness of the training and make recommendations for improvement; and
• To undertake research and assist in the drafting of knowledge products (including lessons learned studies and practice notes).
• To provide consultations.
• All experts listed down below shall liaise with each other to identify synergies and avoid duplication in terms of content;
  1. Diplomacy
  2. Public Diplomacy
  3. International Law
  4. International Economy
  5. Political Science

Methodology:

• To conduct a training needs assessment summarized in a comprehensive report that includes the following:

1. Institutional requirements
2. Individual training needs
3. Training pillars
4. Identifying a list of International Law stakeholders
5. Resources needed

Based on the results of the assessment, the expert will:

• Design a training manual;  
• Design a training course referred to in 1.1;
• Design Training of trainers (TOT) to sustain training by the institute referred to in 1.1;
• Prepare a training portfolio for the trainees in each course; and
• Prepare a training portfolio for trainers in each course.

• The training course will entail interactive workshops using modern training techniques such as simulation.
• The course and materials will be in Arabic

A.Time and Method of payment

B.Institutional Arrangement

The expert will be reporting to Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies. A detailed action plan for the expert’s duties and responsibilities will be formulated by the Institute based on its academic calendar.

C.Duration of the Work

90 Calendar Days. The consultant expected to start working by 19 Jan 2020 (possibility of extension for the 2nd semester, which will start end of August 2020)

D.Duty Station

Riyadh, Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies

E.Reporting:

The Public Diplomacy Expert will report directly to the director of Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies or his/her designate. They will develop a mutually agreed monthly deliverable activity plan with appropriate timelines. The Public Diplomacy Expert will submit a monthly progress report against the agreed activity plan on a mutually agreed template.

F.Travel Plan

This assignment will be 90 calendar days. One round trip ticket will be provided.

Any change to the preliminary travel plan/schedule hereunder, in such cases, UNDP will cover travel costs in accordance with corporate regulations and rules.

•Consultant shall provide the Reimbursable Lump Sum of travel cost. UNDP will process the payment upon actual receipts provided for the ticket (should not exceed the unit price provided in the financial offer) and boarding passes/passport stamps (entry and exit) for each travel;

•The unit price for tickets should be provided on most direct economic class (business and first-class airfare are not permitted as per UNDP rules and regulations);

•Payments will be made upon confirmation of UNDP of satisfactory performance;

•Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/.

If unforeseen travel outside the consultant work station city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

Note: A written approval from the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Institute for Diplomatic Studies will be required to facilitate consultant's travel outside Riyadh on official missions where necessary.

Competencies

L. Core Competencies:

• Organizational Awareness
• Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring
• Works effectively in Teams
• Clear and concise communication
• Ethics and Values
• Knowledge sharing

M. Functional Competencies:

Technical/ Functional:

• Strong knowledge and expertise in Public Diplomacy
• Strong analytical capacities and ability to synthesize complex inputs into coherent documents
• Change agent including the ability to convince, convey and advocate.

Managerial:

• Focuses on impact and result for the client
• Coordinates/collaborate with all key stakeholders and build strong networks/ partnerships
• Establishes priorities for self and other members of the team; schedules activities to ensure optimum use of time and resources
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills

Behaviour:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats people fairly without favouritism
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude

Required Skills and Experience

I. Qualifications and Requirements:

Education:

• Degree from a recognized university (PhD level preferred) in International Law.

Work Experience:

• 10-15 years of experience in diplomatic or consular missions or International Organizations, preferably with additional experience in academic or research institutions.
• The candidate should able to lead dynamic training sessions and to develop appropriate strategies to deliver the required training.
• The candidate should have a demonstrated ability to prepare training modules.
• Proficiency in spoken and written Arabic and preferably fluency in English.

K.Languages Required:

Proficiency in spoken and written Arabic and preferably fluency in English

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review/interview:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Degree from a recognized university (PhD level preferred) in Public Diplomacy/International Media or related discipline.
• At least ten years of experience in diplomatic or consular missions or International Organizations, preferably with additional experience in academic or research institutions.

Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments: (Standard text - do not change)

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

Lump-Sum, which should be inclusive of the professional fee, local communication cost and insurance (inclusive of medical/health insurance).

Travel & Visa: – The contractor shall propose an estimated lump-sum for travel (economy most direct route) and Saudi Arabia visa expenses.

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

The interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at  http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=62425  for more detail information about term of references, instructions to the offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

UNDP reserves rights to reject any applications that are incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested Offerors are required to submit an application via UNDP Jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP Jobsite system. Please note that UNDP Jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on¬line application submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e¬mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavour to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 3 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.